• Target is leading a new investment in Casper, a mattress maker that rose to prominence through e-commerce and plans to announce as soon as today that it has raised $170 million. This round of investment values Casper at approximately $750 million, not including the new investment. Target had offered to buy Casper, but the companies failed to agree on terms.

The Amazon deal for Whole Foods is yet another example of the influence of activist investors — or “greedy bastards” as John Mackey, the Whole Foods chief executive, had referred to them.

The rise of activist investors and technological change has led to a decline in the tenure and dominion of chief executives.

Quattrone Questions Deal Reporting

He questioned reporters’ use of anonymous sources to break news, but several journalists, including Andrew Ross Sorkin of DealBook and Kara Swisher, executive editor of Recode, have defended journalism based on leaks.

Repeatedlycriticizing his onetime antagonist, the banker seized upon Mr. Comey’s admission during recent congressional testimony that he had caused the leaking of one of his memos to The New York Times.

Paying for a Car You Don’t Have

You wouldn’t do it if you had a choice. But millions of Americans don’t have an alternative.

People with poor credit histories have resorted to subprime auto loans, with high interest rates and hefty fees, to buy a car because they need to get to work or to the doctor’s office.

The lenders, unable to recover the balance of the loans by reselling the cars, have been suing borrowers to collect what remains, sometimes as long as 13 years later.

With defaults rising, banking regulators and economists have started to worry about the spillover from the strain of these loans.

The fallout for low-income Americans could be worse than it was during the mortgage crisis: They cannot turn in the keys and walk away, like they could with mortgages.

Even so, securities tied to the loans are still a profitable and sought-after investment on Wall Street.

Coming Up

• Talks to discuss Britain’s departure from the European Union started today. Prime Minister Theresa May is under increasing pressure to soften her “Brexit” plans with calls to keep Britain inside the bloc’s customs union.